The Southern herald., 1887-11-05
INDIAN THUGS.
Men Who Commit Murder as q Re-
hgious Rite.

SWELL" says the landlord Of our
hotel at Jabalput (the halfway
house" Of the long journey from Bonn
bay to Calcutta), "now that you'v
seen the ruins Of the Hindu citadel,
and been over the native cantonment,
and visited the temple on the hill yon-
der ana gone round the marble rocks
Of the Nerbuddha. there's nothing left
for you to see except the thugs.
Thee grim name seemed to strike
upon me with s{dden chill, often
though / heardit bdkpre; for it is onn
thing to near or read about the terrible
"Stganglers" Of the East, and quite
ane er thing to find oneself unexpect.
edly face to face with them More
over. although / have already seen Or
dinary murderers by the score in ST.
berian chain-gangs, West Indian pcni-
tentsries, Brazilian prisons, Turkish
and6 rian fortresses. this is my first
experience Of men who turn murder
itself into religion, pray devoutly for
Its success, and offer up heartfelt
thanksgiving to Heaven when it is
done.
"The Thugsr' echoes an American
tourist, who has the nextroom to ours,
stepping out suddenly upon the veran-
IN '.Well, Tn just starting to have
look at them myself; so. if you and
your lady are ready to go, I guess we
can all start together.
Away we all three 60 accordingly,
along the broad, straight, dusty high
road, which is fortunately shaded to
some extent from the burning sun by
the vast banner-like leaves Of the palm
trees that stand ranked like soldiers
along either side Of the way, alternat-
ing with clumps Of feathery bamboos,
whose crested tips, tapering like
gigantic fishing poles, sway languidly
In the morning breeze.
As we paused for a moment to ad-
mire the beautiful little green paro-
quets that are fitting to and fro over
head with impish screeches, q shrill
cry makes us spring aside just in time
10 avoid an enormous elephant that
comes tramping around a bend of the
road with a perfect mountain Of for
age on its back, while the slim, sharp
featured mahout (driyer), whose
brown limbs and white robe make him
look like cigar wrapped in paper,
j sits perched on its neck and urges it
on with an occasional prod Of his
short iron hook.
"Who arc these Thugs. anyhow"
asks the American, as we move on
again. II just know they're always
numbering people. and that's about
all ! do know"
''Well,n said, ], ''most of what /
know comes from Colonel Sileman
and Colonel Meadows Taylor, who
were the chief agents in putting them
down. The original system, years
ago, was simply continual
human sacrifice 10 Kali, the
goddess Of murder from whom
Calcutta (Kali-Kuttah, or Kali s Tem1
ple) took its name. The theory was
that the earth was -peopled. and
that the Kall's servants. the Thugs.
had to clear off the superfluous popu-
lation by little judicious numbering
every now and then. So, whenever
they could waYlay any man in lone
" place they stranglod him with a
silk handkerchief and then buried
him; and this they called the good
work. -
a wonder what they'd call bad
work, thenpp mutter my companion.
''Well, this went on for ages upon
ages. without any ono having the
least suspicion Of il. Men kept disap-
pearing hear and there, and nobody
knew how. At first the murders were
simply q religious rite, without any
thought Of plunder; but afterwards
they began to combine ro obbery with
murder, and to pick out as victims
those who were worth plundoring.
However the English had been in
India for years before any one dream
ed that Thuggee' existed At last a
Thug chief, being under sentence for
some crime, betrayed his comrades to
save his own life. and then the whole
story came out and the
Thugs were seized and inn
prisoned. Az first the British Commits
sioner Of the district where the dis.
covery was made wouldn't believe that
all these horrors could have been going
on so long without being found out;
but when the old chief dug up thirteen
skeletons on the very spot whore the
commissioners tent was pitched he
began to change his mind But hero